Without any notice or announcement, it seems that eBay is shutting down customer support on Facebook and X and has decided to focus on AI self-service support instead. This eliminates a popular way for sellers to reach out with questions or concerns, and forces them to use another method.
eBay Ending Support on Facebook and X
In a recent post on eBay’s community forum, a member of the community team at eBay confirmed that the company would no longer be offering US customer support on Facebook or X. Specifically, they said that the company would be turning off DMs on Facebook and X on Wednesday, March 11th. A similar change was made back in January for the UK.
The community team member at eBay then went on to say that customers can still get support on the Help & Contact page, where sellers can select “Contact Us” to chat with an automated assistant or contact an agent.
A user on the forum also posted a DM that they received from eBay, which said that the company is making these changes to move resources to meet specific market and business needs based on customer behavior and market data.
Later on in the thread, many users expressed their anger at this move and claimed that the support they got through these social networks was often better than the support they received through other methods, such as over the phone. This is similar to the backlash the company received when it shut down the eBay for Business page last year.
This move comes less than a month after the company laid off around 800 workers (or approximately 6% of the company’s total workforce), which itself followed soon after the company purchased Depop from Etsy for around $1.2 billion in cash.
While changes like this happen, it’s a shock to see a major shift in customer service options take place without any kind of announcement or notice for those who rely on social media to get their support.
eBay Seemingly Switching Focus to AI-Powered Self-Service Support
After getting rid of these support options, it seems the company is pushing sellers towards AI-driven self-service support tools instead. This could be due to the recent layoffs, the company having to cut costs due to their recent Depop acquisition, or simply an effort to move to AI-powered support to save money and free up employees to focus on different things.
While it’s understandable why the company did it, many eBay sellers have used the company’s social support channels over the years, with many even claiming that’s where they’ve gotten the best support.
It’ll be interesting to see how sellers react to this news, especially since many of them likely won’t find out about this change until they try to reach you to support via social media, since the company didn’t do a good job announcing the change to the masses.
While many sellers may flock to the AI-powered support like eBay likely wants, this could also lead to other official support channels (such as phone support) being overwhelmed due to the lack of social media support going forward.
